Cleaning up the garden for autumn

In September and early October, gardening waned.

The tomato plants fell to disease and gravity. The lettuce bolted. The deformed carrots had been pulled. The chives were wilting in the heat and the drought. The marigolds were more deadheads than blooms.

It was the end of the road for the garden.

We'd kept up a steady two hours of work a week in our small plot. But once the tomato plants lost the fight, there really wasn't much to do but clean up. Given that we'd planned a road trip for mid-October, we put everything on hold until this week.

We pulled out the remaining tomato plant tangled in its cage. We picked up all the tomatoes we could find in the mulch. We'll have volunteers next summer without a doubt, but we did what we could to limit that. We pulled out the old salad greens, but there's signs of self-seeding. Looks like we may have more arugula.

The chives got heavy haircuts. After washing and cutting, we tossed them into the dehydrator to see if we could make the preservation process a little easier. We added cleaned oregano (two types, Greek and probably Italian). We trimmed up the basil and set it aside for air drying.

We trimmed back the marigolds as an experiment to see if they will grow back. We have them primarily as companion plants to keep pests off the tomato plants. But they are cheerful fall colors so it would be nice if they make a come back.

The beans that Karen planted with merry disregard for the season are coming up.

We could have done a lot more: dug up the dirt, turned under the hay we used to mulch with, mixed in finished compost. But we don't really have much compost to add after being away for two weeks. It's always a dilemma how much to disturb the ground. It does make it softer and mix the nutrients in better, but it also disturbs the earthworms and other below ground creatures that help make dirt fertile.

We compromised. Farmer Karen will do some hand-turning and we'll keep the gas-powered tiller in the garage another season.

Next step: Planning for a winter planting cycle.

Comments

Hand-Knit Trellis Now Ready for Climbing Foot-Long Beans

Just as the "June" gloom is starting to burn off, I finished my knitted trellis for the garden. It completely surrounds one of our bamboo tripods, with space at the bottom for tending the romaine lettuces growing within the tripod. It's knit out of nylon twine on US 35 needles. While the nylon has no stretch (the way a wool yarn does), the huge gauge has loads of give. The piece was knit flat with ties attached along one edge. It is tied to the tripod along one leg. One some early samples for a knitted plant trellis, I experimented with lace patterns. They look lovely, but I realized two things. One, once the plants grow up the trellis any knitting pattern is lost. Secondly, the plants and leaves need space to grow in and out of. I used a pattern for a shawl: k1, yo, k2tog and then repeat. I got lost a number of times: the yarn-overs drifted over other stitches on occasion. As this was a speed project that won't be visible ones the beans grow over it, I didn

Know Your Soil For Best Garden Results

I've always taken soil for granted. It was there. You put seeds into it. You put water on it. Plants grow and produce flowers, fruit or vegetables. Gayle Weinstein, author of Xeriscape Handbook; A How-To Guide to Natural, Resource-Wise Gardening , takes a different view: “Soil . . . acts as a highway between life and death, land and atmosphere, plants and animals.” It stores water, air and nutrients and makes it possible for an exchange of elements and chemical reactions to occur, she adds. She describes soil as being animal, vegetable and mineral combined. Here are six tests Gayle recommends for getting to know your soil. Grab a shovel and a quart jar. Dig up two cups of dry soil two-to-six inches deep from the areas you want to test. Gather a glass of water, dish washing detergent and paper towels. A soil pH kit, a meter or litmus paper will be needed for the final test.

Determinate vs indeterminate: why does it matter?

When Karen and I planted our 2020 garden, we made the one mistake you never want to make with tomatoes: we didn't check whether the plants we bought were determinant or indeterminate. Our assumption that the cherry tomato plants would be small (small tomatoes means small plant, right?) and the romas would be big, was 180 degrees wrong. The Great Green Goddess of Gardening was on our side, however. Karen has been able to stake up the indeterminate cherry tomatoes -- and the determinate romas have plenty of string fencing to grow on. I've been asked to write more about the differences between indeterminate and determinant tomato plants. Since I clearly needed to review, I'm glad to do so. In simple terms, determinate plants are like bushes or shrubs; indeterminate plants are like trees. Determinate plants are genetically set to grow to a certain size and stop. Indeterminate plants will keep producing stems, leaves and fruit as long as they get enough water, light and warmth.

The Fink Farm Dirt

Search This Blog